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Practical Issues of Giving

The previous blog on giving laid a foundation, and that foundation involves a right heart.  Now let’s build on the foundation.  Some principles for practical giving. Give Everything Sometimes when we talk about giving, people think only about money.  This is a mistake.  Some people are merely one-dimensional givers.  They will write a check or tithe online, then wipe their hands and live the rest of their lives for themselves.  They may consider themselves givers because they gave some money, but Biblical giving involves much more.  When your heart belongs to God, you give Him everything.  Don’t give just money. …

Giving

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.  (II Cor 9:15) Father, you have given me all I have.  Make me a man who gives to you all I have.  God gives.  He so loved the world that He gave.  He saves by grace, and grace is a gift.  Eternal life is a gift.  Your own breath is a gift.  Food and home and friends are all gifts.  Forgiveness is a gift.  A new nature is a gift.  The Holy Spirit, peace and joy are gifts.  Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights.  God…

The Christian Life: A Summary So Far

Over the past months, I have been discussing how to live the Christian life.  I want now to stop and summarize what we have seen so far.  This is, thus, a review, a satellite picture of a portion of the Christian life.  When you live the Christian life, what should it look like?  What helps us live the life Christ calls us to live?  So here goes. The Christian life requires a Christian.  This is basic.  To live the Christian life, you must first have the life of Christ in you.  Unconverted people cannot live converted lives.  Christ must change…

Sharing Your Life

that I may know Him (Phil 3:10) Lord, I want to know you.  In the end, nothing else matters.  Let me know you. When I married Leanne, we became one and began a life together.  I married her because I knew I wanted to be with her.  But when I married her, I also began a lifelong process of getting to know her.  I knew her but I didn’t know her.  I knew her because I had spent time with her, had talked with her, and had seen her life.  But when we married, the time with her, the talking…

Food for the Soul

Man does not live by bread alone . . . Feed me, O God.  Feed me yourself, that I might know you more closely, love you more strongly, walk with you more constantly.  I need to hear and to heed your words – not mine, not those of my friends or family or government or culture.  I need to hear from you.  How my soul thirsts for the living God and for a word from Him!  A growing boy needs to eat.  When I was a child, I remember my mother saying, “Now eat your dinner.  If you want to…